Historian, Former Ambassador, Human Rights Activist

Glasgow City College student Majid Ali faces torture and death if returned to Pakistan. Majid Ali’s brother and other members of his immediate family have been taken and I am afraid very probably murdered by the Pakistani authorities as part of their relentless persecution of the Baloch people and desire to wipe out Baloch national identity. The UK Home Office intends to deport Majid. The people of Scotland must defend him.

There will be an emergency demonstration at the Scottish office, 1 Melville Crescent, Edinburgh at 13.00 tomorrow. I shall be going along. NUS Scotland are organising a letter-writing campaign to Scottish MPs to get them to put pressure on the Home Office. This is important.

It is appalling that London can seek to rip Majid from a Scottish community which values him, from a nation which respects its immigrant communities and their contribution, as part of Theresa May’s campaign to pander to the corporate media induced racism which regrettably has been introduced into many communities in England. It is a further example of why independence is essential to build a more ethical state.

The persecution of the Baloch has received little attention in the West. Peter Tatchell has done admirable work in trying to raise its profile in the UK, but with little traction. Like so many dreadful abuses, it is a direct result of wrongdoing by the British Empire. Baloch or Beluchistan was formally known as the state of Kelat, which Britain first invaded in 1839, destroying the city of Kelat in 1840 and murdering the ruler Mehrab Khan on the pretext he had given insufficient support to the British invasion of Afghanistan. Britain’s relations with Kelat thereafter were an appalling litany of broken treaties, culminating into the forceful and unwanted incorporation into Pakistan.

A few years ago I met the current Khan of Kelat at his home in exile in Wales and learnt a great deal about the dreadful persecution the Baloch suffer. In the course of my researches into British responsibility for the situation I cam across the crime of the massacre of Kotra. After the killing of Mehrab Khan, fighting continued until a truce was agreed with Mehrab’s 15 year old son Nasir. While the truce was in force, British forces silently surrounded Nasir’s mountain camp at Kotra and attacked before dawn, massacring 500. It is reminiscent of Glencoe, though this was a much larger massacre. In the National Archives of India I trembled as I held the manuscript order for the massacre in my hands.

We should do everything we can to save Majid Ali out of common decency, wherever he is from. But the knowledge of Britain’s historic responsibility for the situation should broaden and deepen our understanding of his plight.

375 thoughts on “Save Majid Ali”

The Daily Mail was the first to report that Scottish authorities had opened a new investigation of Janner’s trip to Scotland with a boy in 1991. Later virtually all the national UK newspapers reported the same thing.

The U.S. establishment allows scandalous stories about leading people in the U.S. to appear in the disreputable supermarket weekly tabloids. Later it often develops that the stories turn out to be true. But in the meantime the establishment has associated the stories with the disreputable tabloids and uses that association to discredit the stories in many people’s minds.

“Oh, come on, you can’t object to ‘silly little insults’ and then add one – unless you’re actually trying to object to yourself?”

TC, yes you can when its not so much an insult as Humour, which has its own right to exist.

Besides, Macky the Jenny is a lousy writer and can’t string a sentence together to save her life. I think she has a severe chip on her shoulder from not having graduated, so she works extremely hard at appearing ‘intellectual”.

Can’t you figure out the reality of life for yourself without your ‘book’ and all your woefully petty Islamic politics. Deobandi this/Shia that; all that kind of nonsense. Go back to base my friend and start from there. You don’t seem to be short of time.

And in Janner’s case we’re not simply talking about accusations of groping.

Last year, police officers from Leicester — where Janner held his parliamentary seat, and where he is alleged to have abused several children — made a 250-mile round trip to visit me to discuss this case. What I heard was stomach-churning.

Even today, I can’t think about what I was told by those police officers without getting upset.

This is a frightening case that demands that the allegations are tested in a court of law.

He can’t say exactly what he was told about what Janner did, but he obviously finds it revolting.

It has obviously not occurred to our Irish-American friend that we are quite capable of finding and reading press stories about alleged paedophilia – or indeed anything else – all by ourselves and that, therefore, we probably do not need his frequent links to the latest (word “revelations” deleted)in the Daily Mail.

On the other hand, it would be good if our Irish-American friend posted stuff relating to American politics, economics and society; he might even be able to give us the benefit (I am being kind) of his own thoughts rather than just supplying links à la Marie.

Despite his constant proselytizing here, Giyane is not much of an ad for Islam. He seems to have nothing in the way of ethics. Doesn’t give a damn about honesty. Throws insults at those who have pointed out his dishonesty. Very odd way to behave when you’re preaching the rest of the time.

If the political systems of the other countries you mentioned are at all similar to the UK, then they are designed to ensure politicians of principle do not rise high enough to have power. Every parliamentary vote is a filter. For example, John Goss pointed out (11.11pm) that Ruth Cadbury defied the Whip to support the EDM on Majid Ali. We can therefore be sure that Ruth Cadbury MP will never be foreign secretary of the UK.

Resident Dissident 9 Jun, 2015 – 9:25 pm :“Still laughing at the idea of you playing the neutral observer ……”

That doesn’t surprise me – mockery is your stock in trade. You didn’t address the points I made though. For example, I specifically commented on the combine-harvester-versus-missile-launcher photo. You responded with a list of supposed proof of Russian military involvement in Ukraine, which was irrelevant to my specific point. Care to address my specific point now? I said :

“I tend to favour the combine-harvester theory on the grounds that if Russia really had moved in such large war equipment, there would be better proof of it by now than a grainy picture.”

Have those huge missile launchers been spotted again. Is there proof that they have been used? If not, isn’t that surprising given the power and sophistication of Western surveillance, the now lengthy time period, and the Ukrainian government’s enthusiasm to cast Russia in a bad light?